News about transport and logistics-2018

Green Supply Chain News: In Rather Amazing Announcement, UPS UK Says it will Soon Go All-Electric Vehicles in Central London

Beginning of the End of Combustion Engines, UPS Says, Announcing Breakthrough in Charging Technology

UPS says it will soon operate only electric trucks in central London, the result of what it says is breakthrough technology for charging etruck batteries.

UPS says over the next few years UPS will grow its central London electric truck fleet from 52 currently to about 170.

UPS said its development of what it called "radical" change in the electric vehicle-charging "smart grid" had solved the problem of needing to recharge a large number of vehicles simultaneously, without having to pay for an expensive upgrade to the technology in its charging depot.

So, this breakthrough is not related to the batteries themselves, but rather how they are charged, and likely is in part related to charging many vehicles at times when electricity rates are low.

Electric trucks will soon in total be less expensive than diesel powered delivery vans, UPS said.

"We certainly believe this to be groundbreaking," Peter Harris, director of sustainability at UPS Europe, told the Financial Times. The development will herald "a new generation of sustainable urban delivery services both here in London and in other major cities around the world."

"Even more boldly, UPS also said this technology development marked the "beginning of the end" of the reliance on internal combustion engines. Wow.

The new "intelligent" charging technology works byspreading the same amount of electricity between vehicles more efficiently. (...)The new system also well accommodates charging "second life" batteries efficiently, UPS says...